Leafs Drop Second of Home-and-Home
October 4, 2007

OTTAWA -- Daniel Alfredsson scored his second goal of the game on the power play with less than five minutes to play Thursday and lifted the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It was

Mats Sundin recorded his 389th goal as a Leaf tying Darryl Sittler. -Getty Images

Ottawa's second straight win over its provincial rival following a 4-3 overtime win in Toronto on Wednesday.

Alfredsson also had a goal in the first period and Dany Heatley added a goal and an assist in Ottawa's home opener before a sold-out Scotiabank Place crowd of 19,857.

The loss spoiled the regular-season debut of new Leafs goaltender Vesa Toskala, who saw his team rally from two goals down in the second period before Alfredsson clinched the game for Ottawa.

Martin Gerber made 41 stops for Ottawa (2-0-0) and Wade Redden and Jason Spezza each contributed two assists.

Mats Sundin and Matt Stajan replied for Toronto (0-2-0). Toskala finished with 26 saves.

Sundin's goal was his 389th as a member of the Leafs, moving him into a tie with Darryl Sittler for the most in franchise history.

Before the game, the Senators raised a banner to commemorate the Eastern Conference title they won last spring.

Toskala was making his first regular-season start since being acquiring in a draft-day deal from the San Jose Sharks. Andrew Raycroft started in Ottawa's win on Wednesday.

Toskala struggled in the pre-season, losing three games while posting a 4.69 goals-against average and an .854 save percentage.

He had to be sharp early, making good saves off of chances by Anton Volchenkov and Heatley.

Alfredsson had received the loudest cheer of all during player introductions, and he gave the crowd more to cheer about when he took a cross-ice pass from Heatley and wired a shot past Toskala to open the scoring at the 8:18 mark of the first.

The Leafs outshot the Senators 13-7 through the opening period, but couldn't manage to beat Gerber.

It was more of the same in the second, where a double-minor to Wade Redden gave Toronto a four-minute power play that failed to produce a goal.

Alex Steen appeared to have tied the contest midway through the second when he steered Jason Blake's rebound through Gerber's pads, but the goal was waved off after Blake appeared to bump Gerber as he tried to cover the puck.

Later in the period during a Senators' power play, Heatley steered a pass from Jason Spezza on target that Toskala appeared to kick out and play continued until the next stoppage. After a review, the goal was ruled to have crossed the goal line and Ottawa led 2-0.

Less than three minutes later, however, the Leafs were right back in it after Sundin and Stajan scored just 32 seconds apart, both off goal-mouth scrambles.

The Leafs held a 32-17 advantage in the shots department after 40 minutes.

With Chad Kilger in the penalty box for holding, Alfredsson fired a shot over Toskala's shoulder with 4:59 left for the winner.

Notes: To celebrate the start of the Senators' 15th season, former Ottawa captain Laurie Boschman dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff. a Ottawa improved to 8-4-3-0 all-time in home openers. a In addition to goalie Ray Emery (wrist) and centre Dean McAmmond (concussion), who are both out day-to-day with injuries, defenceman Luke Richardson was scratched from the Senators' lineup. a Ottawa plays host to the New York Rangers on Saturday. a Defencemen Anton Stralman and Wade Belak were Toronto's scratches. a Next up for the Leafs are the Montreal Canadiens, who visit the Air Canada Centre on Saturday.